March 13

I want to start writing regularly again. Years and years ago, waaaaaaaay before blogging was even popular, I (along with millions of other people) kept a diary. I wrote multiple entries on some days and sometimes after a long stretch of silence, I'll return to my faithful diary and continue writing again like we're old pals.

Then, before emailing became the standard mode of conversation and even some time after that, I wrote letters to my friends. Even to those who live on this tiny island together with me. I had my regular writing kakis - Yati/Maureen, Shujiun, Sharifah, Murni (when she started living in Australia). I would spend hours writing my letter and wait patiently for the 2 weeks or a month it takes for the reply to come back. 

Then the demands of work and family set in. I was still writing letters after I got married but it became a lot less regular when I had kids. Suddenly, there was an onslaught of technology that helped us to communicate and out went the letter. Even to Murni who still lives far, far away. 

Now, writing blog entries is the only thing I do that fits into the writing-for-leisure category. 

I started thinking about this because I had just attended a workshop which made me think of writing. Actually, writing wasn't even the focus of the workshop. I just happened to think of writing during the break-the-ice segment. It made me think of writing, especially on paper. (I still hate the keyboard I'm using so it somewhat impedes my speed and I don't like how it makes me feel a lot less fluent.)

But, as much as I do want to write more, the harsh reality is, time is something I don't have much of. There are things I'm supposed to do and tomorrow being the first day of my March school hols, I don't feel the pressure to start doing the work now. I'll regret this tomorrow night, I'm sure. Let me procrastinate this once while I ramble on and on. 

Besides writing, what else do I want to do more of?

1. Reading

a. I want to read all the children's book in the library. 

b. I want to read random non-fiction books. (How to Solve It by George Polya. This is not a random choice. This one, I've wanted to read for some time but haven't bought it yet so I'll start randomly picking books from the non-fiction section after I'm through with this.)

c. I want to read all the fiction books that have won awards, or shortlisted for awards or are on bestseller's lists. 

d. I want to read a good uplifting chic-lits after a particularly heavy book. 

2. Doing fun activities with the two small but important people in my life. Climbing the hill in front of our block. Going on nature walks (climbing that hill is in this category). Doing finger painting - only after I've bought Crayola's washable paint. Cooking together. And most importantly, make them curious about their world. Actually, that's not something I can make. It's something which I must make sure I don't try to quell. 

Hmmm.. This is beginning to sound like a bucket list. I'm gonna do just that. I'm gonna write more later (when, I don't know but it will be written someday) all the things I wanna do before I die. Now, gotta stop because at 11.50pm at night, my laundry is done and I gotta hand them up. 

Tataaa!

The Things They Say...

Episode 1

Huda made a real sweet card for Farah yesterday.

Episode 2

This morning, they were at my mother's house when they discovered the Toys R Us catalogue which came with the day's papers. Both of them were studying the contents of the catalogue intently when Farah tried to grab it from Huda.

Huda got upset and wanted to hit Farah. TheHusband told Huda not to do it and reminded her of the card that she made for her sister.

"No!" she replied. "That was only for yesterday."

Episode 3. 

Huda discovered one hives-like thing on her face. 

I told her that that's most likely the beginning of a hives outbreak and that she had better wash her face and brush her teeth with toothpaste, otherwise "more would come out."

(By the way, brushing her teeth is a standard response to all her ailments because she is so averse to brushing teeth with toothpaste.)

Upon hearing that "more will come out", she got extremely frightened and said, "More bees will come out?"

---

March 2012

Farah turned 3 last month.

She is also up to a lot of antics.

1.One day, we were talking about the differences between boys and girls. We were at a coffee shop. After stating the main difference between boys and girls, she pointed at every man at the coffee shop and said, That man has a p/e/n/is. That man has a p/e/n/is.That man has a p/e/n/i/s.

2. Another day, she was angry with her sister. She wanted to insult her sister and she went, Kakak, you have orange and pink p/e/n/i/s!

3. She woke up and pooped in her diaper. She was smelly and so I said, "Farah busuk lah!" (Farah is smelly.)

She replied, "No. I'm a girl. I'm not smelly. Ayah is a boy. Ayah is smelly."